Amy Gets A Slap For A Slap

Amy Winehouse received a caution for common assault after she admitted to slapping a man who claimed he was trying to help her hail a cab.

The 24-year-old singer was released from a central London police station April 26, having spent the previous night in custody. She’d arrived a little after 5 p.m. the previous day but was kept overnight after doctors decided she "was in no fit state" to be questioned.

Although a police caution will remain on the record and could count against her if she is charged with a similar future offense, it’s generally regarded as a slap on the wrist and an alternative to prosecution for less serious crimes.

It can be used only when the evidence suggests a conviction would be likely and the defendant owns up to the offence.

"Amy Winehouse was questioned this morning at a London police station in connection to an incident in Camden in the early hours of 23 April, 2008," her spokesman told BBC News "She admitted to a common assault by slapping a man with an open hand and accepted a caution."

First reports of the incident suggested she’d head-butted the man outside a bar in Camden, north London, having spent the evening drinking.

Winehouse’s husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, appeared the same day at Snaresbrook Crown Court in east London, where June 2 was set as the provisional date for him to stand trial on charges of assault and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The U.K. tabloids are now claiming Winehouse has turned her back on him and is spending time with a new lover, who reportedly works for her management company.

Her release from police custody coincided with the news that the troubled singer/songwriter has amassed a £10 million fortune, making her the 10th-richest British musician in The Sunday Times Rich List.